Torrington >> The Torrington Board of Education voted 6-2 in a special meeting Monday night to condemn The Register Citizen's recent criticism of a board policy that prohibits individual members from speaking to the press or communicating to the public outside of official meetings.

But Chairman Ken Traub signaled a willingness to re-evaluate that policy, and member Paul Cavagnero pushed the board to act as soon as possible to bring "more transparency" to its deliberations, including getting meetings broadcast live on local access cable television again.

The board issued a lengthy statement (click here to read the full statement) defending the policy and saying that "several articles and letters" in the newspaper were "wrong" in saying that Traub was trying to "silence individual board members."

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Andrew Nargi voted against issuing the statement, saying that the articles weren't wrong, that Traub, by his own public admission to the newspaper, did indeed try to silence member Vincent Merola.

Merola also voted against issuing the statement on Monday night.

His weekly letters to the editor of The Register Citizen, reporting about positive developments in the Torrington School District that he felt weren't getting public attention, sparked the controversy.

An "open letter" published on the front page of The Register Citizen Monday from Group Editor Matt DeRienzo questioned the policy and said it was inappropriate to have discussed it behind closed doors. Suggesting that individual members were being bullied into silence in violation of their First Amendment rights and duty to communicate with the public that had elected them, it included a headline, "Bullying and secrecy on the Torrington Board of Education," that drew strong objections from board members.

Daniel Thibault called it "yellow journalism."

"They are taking something that was an internal discussion among the board ... And they've turned it into the ultimate witch hunt." he said.

He said that the policy is designed to speak as a board, regardless of disagreements that might take place as members deliberate on an issue. "Once the vote is taken, we speak as one voice," he said.

At Monday's meeting, Merola defended the way that Traub had handled himself in "carrying out the wishes of the board,"

He hinted, however, that there were issues with the way that other board members were attempting to enforce the policy.

"Does the board object to individual members' right to exercise their First Amendment right?" he asked.

John Kissko immediately responded with: "That's not on the agenda!"

Merola continued with another question for the board.

"I'd like to see how each board member feels about bullying, and making threats and berating other board members for exercising their First Amendment right."

Traub and others opened the meeting expressing anger that newspaper accounts made it seem like Traub was personally behind the policy and was being "heavy-handed" in dealing with individual members.

A directive that members funnel press inquiries through either the board chairman or school superintendent has been part of the Torrington Board of Education's bylaws for about 10 years.

But how it has been interpreted has changed depending on the makeup of the board, both depending on how the chairman and school superintendent have operated and whether individual board members have felt strongly about exercising freedom of speech they have regardless of any set of bylaws.

Nargi said that this section of the board's bylaws conflicts with another section saying that board members have an "ethical duty" to "speak openly" about what they believe is right or wrong.

"No one will argue that there are conflicting things in bylaws," Traub said, but his duty as chairman is to enforce them.

How they're enforced is in part up to the will of the majority of the board, and he said Monday's special meeting, his conversations with Merola about letters to the editor and the board's recent "nonpublic" session all happened because "three or more" members requested it.

While saying that the board was going to conduct a review of its bylaws soon, Traub defended the intent of the policy that calls for only the chairman or superintendent to speak outside official meetings.

"We are different than any other board," he said, because the "majority" of information Board of Education members consume is "confidential."

He said the policy is about protecting taxpayers from the threat of lawsuits for breach of confidentiality on student privacy, employee information or details of union negotiations.

Parents "will go for blood" if the board even accidentally breaches confidentiality, he said.

When asked how a board member saying something wrong in an official meeting would be any different than saying it to a reporter outside a meeting in terms of a lawsuit, Traub said that it would be more likely to be noticed in the newspaper, and that at a meeting there is opportunity for the chairman or other board members to cut someone off before the damage is done. If it's a letter to the editor or a statement to a reporter, he said, there is no opportunity for the chairman or fellow board members to "proofread."

Traub expressed appreciation that Merola "took the high road" and agreed to stop writing letters to The Register Citizen, instead planning to pursue a look at the board's bylaws through the "proper procedure."

"I think the newspaper and other citizens of Torrington lit a torch under it and carried it," Traub said. "I don't think this whole situation deserved this level of press."

Cavagnero said that the Torrington Board of Education has backslid significantly since his time as chairman when it comes to public accessibility - a situation he says Traub inherited - and that could be part of what is stoking anger about the Merola situation.

"We need to accelerate the process of making our meetings more transparent," Cavagnero said. "We created this environment in which the public thinks there are things going on that no one knows about. Let's get back on Cablevision and (broadcast meetings) live."